Dan Martin piles on the pain in last year's Tour to France in Andorra. But QuickStep has built its team around a lead-out for nine-time stage winner Marcel Kittel.
Dan Martin gets one domestique for Tour de France
Dan Martin will take to the start line of the Tour de France one of three leaders in the QuickStep Flooring team.
The Irishman will be chasing a high overall placing having finished 9th last year. He will feel a podium place is not out of the question and will also hunt stage wins.
However, he is part of a team with other stars who have a very significant number of Tour victories already on their palmares.
Because of that, Martin must share team leadership with Marcel Kittel and Philippe Gilbert.
The team has diplomatically said that all three will “headline” the line-up during the Tour.
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However, in a move that will disappoint many Irish cycling fans, only one rider has been assigned by the team to help Dan Martin.
This is despite is best stage race form ever in the last couple of years and excellent results to date in 2017.
Much of the QuickStep is team built around providing a lead out for Kittel; the German with nine Tour stage wins already his name.
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The lead-out is comprised of five of the nine riders in the Tour selection.
It includes New Zealand national TT champion Jack Bauer, Fabio Sabatini, and Czech road race champion Zdenek Stybar who won a stage of the Tour into Lyon two years ago.
Completing the lead-out will be Matteo Trentin and Julien Vermote.
In a pre Tour statement, QuickStep has designated just one rider to help Dan Martin in the mountains; Gianluca Brambilla.
And the team said while the 29-year-old’s job is to assist Martin he may also get a chance to go off the front and chase a stage win for himself.
Gilbert, in fantastic form this season, turns 35 years during the race. He is returning to the Tour de France for the first time in four years.
He is a former stage winner and yellow jersey at the Tour and the team said can be a “card to play” on some of the hillier stages.
When it came to what it hoped for Dan Martin, the team pinpoint the general classification and possible stage victory.
“Last year, Dan Martin came close to a stage victory at what was his best Tour de France outing,” it said.
“(The 2016 Tour) saw the attack-orientated Irishman make his way into the top 10 overall for the first time in his career.
“The 30-year-old, who concluded the Critérium du Dauphiné earlier this month in third position for the second season running.
“(That followed) a remarkable final stage which showed his amazing fighting spirit, will have another crack at the general classification, hoping to improve on last year's result.”
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